


City of Ice

by QueenofBlackDiamonds



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, M/M, Spies, Super AU, bending switch, no major OC's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-02-07 03:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1882617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenofBlackDiamonds/pseuds/QueenofBlackDiamonds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Living in the Fire Nation all her life, Kara knows of nothing else. But when a quest for revenge brings her into the world, she finds that not everything is what it seemed. Not to mention that her father is keeping secrets, she thinks the Fire Nation's greatest enemy is flirting with her (not that she doesn't like it), and her traitorous thoughts and heritage could get her and her brother killed.</p><p>Zuko has been living in the watertribe for years and can hardly remember a time when he wasn't. He has grown up with their culture, learned to hunt, and became the protector of his growing village. Being the only water bender in the South Pole, he is desperate to learn. But when he finds the kid in the iceberg, he'll learn how much he is willing to handle when dealing with chirpy Avatars, a crazy Princess, and the secrets behind his scars.</p><p>This is an AU where we find out how different the avatar world would be if the characters grew up in separate nations. Kara is not an oc.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I am trying to keep the prologue a little vague, but I hope you get the idea. If not, the net chapter should clear things up.
> 
> By the way, KARA IS NOT AN OC. She is a certain character that will have her ture name revealed later. Enjoy! Any questions or suggestions, ask away!

Prologue  
¤¤¤¤  
The Southern Earth Kingdom Ocean was filled with the reflections of a night bursting with stars, it was seeing the calm dark water that Iroh felt a large gust of frozen wind that made him feel both weary and too old. He knew he would get in a very copious amount of trouble for doing this, but after what happened in the walls of Ba Sing Se… He would not be losing any more of his already crumbling family to the spirits. A long sigh escaped him at the thought and he shook his head. It was probably too late to save them from their own violence and blind views now.

Pulling the hood of his long thick cloak a little closer when he heard the cries of land from the night watchman, Iroh looked on to see the unoccupied Earth Kingdom harbor of Quinn Chew. It was the most southern one he knew of besides Kiyoshi Island that could possibly have what he was looking for. The small passenger boat lurched toward the docks and Iroh went below to check on his very important ‘cargo’. When they were docked, Iroh thanked and paid the young man who loaded up his rented ostrich-horse and set off into the small port.

It was oddly easy these days for him to commit high treason against the Fire Lord. He knew what he was doing was right, but that he even had to do it at all made sadness sink into his gut. After this, Iroh decided, he would have a long vacation.

Quickly moving into the more relaxed side of town, Iroh tied the beast out of sight and made his way into one of the local tea shops. The walls were sea weathered and pealing, and the floor creaked like a squealing fire ferret, but it had a certain charm that only came with time. He bet it was built sometime about sixty years or so ago. There were very few people inside so it was almost too easy pretending to be a tired old merchant just there to unwind after a hard days traveling.

After fifteen minutes of sitting in the corner and trying to swallow a brew that tasted of an interesting mixture of algae and silt, he found him. A thin, ancient old man wearing an apron that used to be white who was carefully wiping down a few water stained Pai Sho boards. Perfect.

A wrinkled smile missing one too many teeth greeted him when he approached. “Would you like to play a game?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Iroh bowed and settled himself across from the man. Then the game began.

In the minutes that fallowed only the clacking of the various tiles and sea breeze rattling the timeworn chimes was heard. A while later, the man then sat back and examined the board, milky eyes slightly wider than before. His voice was dry sand and twigs. “A Grandmaster, it is an honor. The Lotus flower will always bloom to those who know its secrets. However may I be of help?”

Iroh’s lips fell into a small, pleased smile. It was good to know that wherever you may be, you can always find a friend. “I am looking for those of the far southern lands, where no blossoms grow but her followers can still thrive.”

The elders eyes crinkled and a short parched laugh escaped his lips. “What you are looking for, is not far from here. Try the Dao Hong tavern. Though, I do believe you need to watch your step. They are more than weary of the benders from the west.”

“The brothers and I thank you for the knowledge and the game.”

Both stood and bowed, hands hidden in their wide sleeves.

After hiding his ‘cargo’ back inside the storage room of the small shop, Iroh followed the loud laughter and happy Earth Kingdom houguan to the Dao Hong. He had some Water Tribe warriors to persuade.

¤¤¤¤

A Few Weeks Earlier

Even at age five and three quarters, Kara knew the rules: she could not leave the building without her mother, father, or grandmother, she was not to talk to strangers, and she was not to set things on fire (especially her older brother, he was still going on about his slightly singed eyebrow). But despite all of that, Kara felt eager and too pleased for her own good that she was deemed old enough to be left alone at home, all by herself. She knew that Daddy was only allowing this because he went over to the neighbors for a few minutes to help the older couple decorate for tomorrow, but still. For now, she was the one in charge.

So for her first official act of Supreme-Ruler-of-The-Apartment, she (very carefully) dragged her grandmother’s rocking chair, which was aged well past its prime, to the window and clamored up the creaking wood so she could view the wide streets below. Kara hadn’t seen much of the capital since they moved and she was dying to just run out the door and just see, explore. She planned to one day live inside the center of the caldera, see the grand palace and Dragon throne. The outer city was still strikingly glamorous too, though.

Their new apartment (or flat, as her silly brother keeps insisting it’s called, but what does he know, he’s a boy) is placed above a wood carving/furniture store that her Daddy works at. They share the upstairs hallway with another family, an elderly couple, and mean middle age lady who daddy calls “Koh’s reincarnation”, whatever that means. Then the hallway splits into four cozy apartments and theirs has windows that open up to the active street below them. 

Outside was surely bustling today. Kara saw people on high latters putting up broad signs with fresh, black and gold ink. Bundles of rich, scarlet cloth being wrapped inside finely woven baskets were carried between arms, legs, shoulders and heads. She saw women coming from the beauty parlor from across the street with freshly sharpened nails and striking painted faces. From the tops of the many hundred red roofs, candles were being set for the grand lighting tomorrow. Talk and laughter echoed throughout the white cobbled streets. Jasmine, fire lilies, and spice perfumed the air and Kara liked the taste of it on her tongue. She loved living here. It was always so full of life.

Kara knew what tomorrow was and simply couldn’t wait for it. For tomorrow was the Great Capital of the Fire Nation would be grandly celebrating Princess Azula’s sixth birthday.

¤¤¤¤

When Iroh arrived, the Dao Hong was in high spirits. Apparently, a small battle had been won in a forest nearby, pushing the Fire Nation troops further north, and the men came here to celebrate. The Earth Kingdom soldiers were rightfully joyous about their victory. But despite the large swirling crowd, Iroh spotted them almost immediately, with their light furs and blue tunics sticking out like sapphires on a white sand beach. Ten or so, hidden in the back corner discussing something that seemed rather important and serious. It looks like Iroh would have to be rather serious too for this occasion as well.

The floor was sticky and held many rather unstable patrons but Iroh’s boots did not make a sound, regardless of his larger size. When he got within hearing range, he settled himself against a neighboring support column and listened for a lull in their conversation, eyes following the busy bartender.

“We really shouldn’t have come and wasted our money on this,” hissed an older tribesman, strong arms crossed over his wide chest. He had the typical long, brown-grey braided hair and harsh weathered face of a long-time sailor. He seemed to be the oldest but oddly not the leader. His voice was low and a bit bitter. “We could have spent this on actual food, or better yet, medicine.”

“And I told you,” sighed another man, this one younger and much thinner, with hair that reached his shoulders and dark arms folded under his chin. “It’s a nasty burn, he’s still lucky he didn’t lose the whole arm, but there is no good treatment besides the herbs we have left and rest.”

“Where are we going to get the supplies to head back? How will we get the money here?” asked the more timid one who was nursing a cup and resting his head on one knee. His oval, tanned face turned was to the floor; he was idly playing with one of his bright blue beads in his hair.

A small pause entered the table. The thin young man from before gave a long, tired sigh and raised his hand to call attention to himself more. His expression was a peculiar mix of defeat and wisdom.

“I know what to do,” he said with a straight, serious face and sagely eyes. This gathered surprised looks and the lifting of eyebrows. They motioned him to go on.

“I am afraid, in this situation, desperate times call for desperate measures,” he spoke in a rather neutral voice and sat up in his chair. “I know that our chief, spirits bless him, has had to make many sacrifices for the sake of this tribe and the war. I feel the same need to serve my brothers in arms. So I am willing to sacrifice my body to the oldest profession. Until we have collected enough money and supplies for the trip back home, I promise to give my virtue and exotic dark dynamite to any paying young maiden who wishes to”—

Loud snorts fallowed and his chair was soon knocked over. He was sent tumbling to the ground a few feet away from Iroh. Bubbling laughter rose around the table while the man cursed his companions for being so rude, and that the idea could have worked.  
Iroh smiled faintly. That boy would have gotten along splendidly with Lu Te--… with someone he used to know.

“Good evening, gentlemen.”

The laughter and talk died quickly and several men jumped as he stepped into the light of candles.  
“I apologize for intruding, but I couldn’t help but overhear your predicament.”

The young man’s eyes widened and a hot red blush covered his cheeks and ears as he got up from the dirty floor. “Listen, um sir, I was only k-kidding around about the… Not that you’re not… I just don’t like… I mean, um… I-I’m saving myself for someone… yeah, that’s it! So s-sorry to disappoint you, but…”

Iroh’s smile grew warm. “And I am sure this someone special is saving themselves for you too, whatever gender they may be.”

This made a few chuckles sprout from the group. The young man nodded patiently, sat back down and discreetly turned the color of over ripe moon peaches.

“Now, about your situation,” Iroh pulled over a chair and sat down, removing his hood. He could feel their frosted gazes on every move he made. They were cautious, good. “I believe I can help.”

The oldest tribesman stared him down through glaring eyes. He was a well-traveled man, knew what he could be dealing with. “And let me guess… You’re here to sell us some magical-old-man-potion that you discovered in the mountains that could heal a broken bone and fire bender burns in moments, for the rare special offer of one-hundred gold. After we buy it, you make your way out of town before we find and skin you...”

“No, not at all!” Iroh protested.

“So what is a man like you going to do to ‘help’ us? And how many pieces do you want us to scrape out of our pockets for it?”

Iroh’s smile vanished and he became solemn, mood swirling into a more dejected grey. He knew what color his eyes are. Though he hated it, he had to avoid direct questions, to tell small white lies. Sometimes when one was being brought up with Ozai as a younger brother, one must had to learn some of his deceiving ways.  
“No, not quite… What I am giving you is worth far more than any gold on this Earth, but you will not pay me a single copper piece.”

They were leaning closer now, obviously intrigued, but with one hand to their whale tooth knives. “What do you mean?”

“Not exactly a magical potion… A boy.”

¤¤¤¤

Kara stopped feeding small pieces of bread to the long beaked birds outside when she heard the firm knock on the door. It was probably Daddy, who forgot his keys on the small table again. Or maybe it was Sohaka and Grandmother, who had come back from buying the candles for the large lanterns that she and Daddy had made (she painted them red, gold, and pink while he carefully wrote the characters for Azula, prosperous, and victory in thick brush strokes).

But when she opened the heavy wooden door, already playfully pouting and about to scold either one for missing their keys, she stopped. Standing in the threshold was not Daddy or her brother, but two strangers in armor the color of soot and crushed pomegranate. Their heads were bare of the scary white masks but she did not need to see those to know that they were from the Capital Police. The officers did not look very happy.

Kara stared at them for a heart stopping moment, a chilling wave of panic progressed like sharp rocks along her spine and then suddenly shot through her chest and slowly spread through her limbs like a slimy poison.

What did I do wrong? She thought, starring up at the hard faces of the man and woman in crimson and black. I followed all of Daddy’s rules, didn’t I? Was it because I threw bread out the window? Do they arrest people for that? I don’t want to go to prison; we just bought moon-peaches so I could learn to make pie….

The man stared down at her, eyes dark and mouth set. The woman rolled her eyes a little then went to one knee in front of Kara, a small smile pulled at her mouth but her eyes were sad.

“Hello, child,” her voice was low and smooth, like river rock. “Is your father home? We would like to speak with him.”

Kara stood, still half flooded with leftover panic and surprise. She had been told several times to trust the police and members of the military that guarded the capital; they were there for her protection and peace. But something made her falter in answering. Maybe it was the stern, no nonsense pose the man still had, the way his feet were apart and hands behind his back. Maybe it was the very cautious way that her Daddy always had when speaking to them, always staying clear of them when he could. Or maybe, it was the sad look on the woman’s face, no small amount of pity in her amber eyes. “I-…”

The opening of the neighbor’s door saved her from replying. “What’s going on out here?”  
Her Daddy’s clear and steady voice took hold of the hallway as he walked toward them. His tanned skin a little sweaty and cold, cerulean eyes narrowed onto the fire benders.

“Are you Houkashi?” the woman asked. She stood up from her kneeling and faced him.

“Yes, I am,” her Daddy turned his head to her and spoke in a calm voice. “Kara, go back inside, wait in the kitchen.”

Kara nodded, her eyes questioning but obedient.

She did close the door and walk back inside, but she did not go into the kitchen. Kara did something that changed her from that day on. With her small ear pressed against the crack in the side of the door and hot tears drying on her cheeks, Kara made a vow that will haunt her sleepless nights for almost ten years. I will have revenge.

¤¤¤¤

A moment of silence was brought forth at the man’s proposal that was only disrupted by the loud cheers and happy strings of the Earth Kingdom soldiers. Kesuk spoke up, which was another oddity that was created from the night’s drinking and surprises. “A… boy?”

Tuyet, who he knew was very grumbly about their money problem, narrowed his wise eyes again at the stranger. Out of all of them tonight, he happened to be the oldest (aka most experienced dealing with people of other nations), so he had to take it upon himself to play Chief. He was looked up to, but also had many faults. Tuyet was old fashioned, bitter at times, a slight hypocrite, and-

“We may seem like barbarians to you, but we do not condone slavery.”

-he was easily insulted.

The other man looked startled, as if he had not expected anyone to get that impression. Kesuk had to give him some credit though; he looked the very opposite of a sleazy slave trader. Now that Kesuk got a look at him, he couldn’t help but notice the vague ‘grandfather’ like feel the man had.

He had a kind of face that Kesuk had never seen before, but thought it was somehow familiar, which put him in a sort of confusing paradox. With a short neatly trimmed greying black beard and pale skin, he was most likely from money. The man’s face was round and kindly, though supported a sharp nose, thin eyebrows and finely boned cheeks. What really separated him from anyone Kesuk knew were his eyes. They were not like the amber he had seen through the slits in the skull masks of fire benders, but a bright gold. In the candle light they burned like small suns, fiery and swirling with energy.  
Now those unique eyes were slightly widened and trained on Tuyet.

“No, of course not, I would never,” the man seemed to pause and think for a minute, his eyes very sad and grim. “I am actually the one in need of your help. Please, you’re my last hope.”

The man looked desperate. He was telling the truth and Kesuk felt sympathy and new confidence from the drink in his hand. His voice was a little softer than he thought it would be. “Maybe we could find some place better to talk.”

Everyone within earshot gave him an incredulous look, even the strange man. “What? If he turns out to be a robber, there is eleven of us and one him. I like our odds.”

Tuyet gave a tired sigh, with grumbling that sounded a lot like ‘I’m not telling the Chief’, giving in and nodded to the man to lead the way to the door. So all with cautious eyes, they fallowed the man into the night and unknowingly marking the starting point in a new chapter of Kesuk’s life.

¤¤¤¤

Something heard though a crack in a door:

“How can I help you?”  
“You were married to a woman named Kamiko, correct?”  
“Yes…What do you mean ‘were’?”  
“We are here to tell you of her death, earlier this morning.”  
A long, loud pause, then-  
“Who…”  
“A water-bender, from the looks of it. We will tell you the results of the murder investigation at a later time. When would you like to see and cremate the body?”  


¤¤¤¤

The man had said he was from the colonies, a great metalworking city called Yu Dao (Kesuk supposed that clarified the peculiar eyes. The fire nation had been there for over a hundred years, there was bound to be some mixing of blood, voluntary or not).

“Our family has a long history there, but we lived in peace,” the man said as they walked the side streets, fallowing him with caution that could only be found from walking into one to many traps. “We adapted to the changing life, and became more involved in now the integrated cultures. But when I found out what this boy could do… I would not stand to let the fire nation take him away, or worse. So I came looking for you.”  
By now the group was standing outside of an old tea house that had peeling paint, sun bleached curtains, and low burning buttery-white lanterns. Tuyet reached an arm out to stop the man before he could go around the back to the side door.

“What do you want us to do anyway?” he asked, always very suspicious.

The man paused. His face creased as he looked back at all of them with woeful eyes. The soft moonlight made him appear washed out and very wan, the shadows of the trees made his burning eyes look dark and resigned. “I need you to take him with you back to the South Pole.”

Kesuk was confused and was sure it showed. Why would he want to do that? Give a boy, which he obviously cares about, to complete strangers to take to the very frozen ends of this earth where possibly no one he knew or ever met would ever see him again? The thought left him with a strange feeling left in his gut. “What?” Kesuk was still confused. “Why do you want us to do that?”

Before he could answer (damn the spirits, things were just beginning to actually get somewhere here), a hesitant and small voice broke out from the ragged tea shop entrance. “Uncle?”

The sound of heads snapping towards the sound was almost audible.

A man so aged he rivaled the prehistoric guru’s numbered years (ran into him a few weeks ago at a seal-turtle covered sand-bar… Don’t ask…) stood in the threshold of the door, his stained apron showing that he apparently worked there, and had one hand pulled harshly behind his back. The stranger that was now more of an acquaintance (what was his name again?) gave another tired sigh and nodded his head to the skeletal elder at the door. The old man took a step to the right of the door way, milky eyes careful.

Attached to the man’s wrinkled thin fingers was a young boy that could not be older than eight years old. He quickly let go of the previously restricting digits and half-ran half-stumbled to his ‘uncle’s’ side, grabbing onto his arm.

The first things Kesuk noticed were the thick white bandages that covered the both the boy’s hands, fore-arms, right knee, neck, and most of the left side of his face. They looked like defensive wounds, and in a place like Yu Dao, there’s only one likely place to get them. Fire benders.

Kesuk felt a rush of rage, sadness, pity, and hate hit him like an angry mama polar dog. Nobody, especially one who is so young, should have that happen to them, to have those monsters abuse them like that. The next time they went into open sea looking for the smoking metal patrol ships, Kesuk would make those ash-making bastards pay for it.

After taking a moment to calm his thoughts of revenge (i.e. store them for later) and breathe deeply, he took in the rest of the boy, trying to avoid the bandages this time. He was a little on the small side, all arms and legs though. He wore grey and brown cloths that blended in so much it was almost suspicious. His skin was as pallid as the very moon and looked smooth and cleansed (proving again that theory that they came from some kind of money). He did look somewhat like his uncle, though. The boy’s eyebrows were thin and black, cheek bones fine, delicate, but sharp. The part of his face that was not covered had that little bit of softness that only youth and a beautiful mother could give, so it had an odd but nice balance of pointed and pretty. If it weren’t for those tell-tale bandages, he would grow up to be quite the looker someday.

The boy’s face was moving between his uncle and the other warriors with a very confused frown and a slight sway in his stance. He looked like Naniq when he is abruptly awoken from a long nap.

His uncle put a protective hand around his shoulder and stared straight at the group, not even blinking. The boy looked at them too, the one eye left uncovered was big, shining, and a rare shadowy blue, like an ocean at midnight. The color was odd, if slightly unnatural on his chalk-white face.

“This is Zuko,” his voice was clear and didn’t waver. Zuko, though, was a fire nation name if he ever heard one. “And you are taking him with you because he is my nephew and a water bender.”


	2. The First Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first snows always bring anticipation. 
> 
> Edit: I was going to put the last bit in the next one, but decided it would be a better fit here.

The cold fingers of the arctic winds scraped his cheeks and made them too numb to feel. His hands are already frozen stiff and the blood stopped flowing into his legs some time ago. The eyeglass he is holding has frosted over, useless, only showing the seemingly never ending grey fog.  
  
And right about now, he is seriously contemplating getting on his hands and knees and begging to switch watch shifts with Kara. If the cold doesn't kill him first, the extreme boredom will. How could anyone live here? --Wait, correction, how could anyone _want_ to live here?  
  
A long sigh escaped him, and if he didn't already know better, the puff of white breath that followed could almost be mistaken as smoke.  
  
 _This place is so freaky_ , he thought.  
  
Sohaka had grown up in the southern isles of the Fire Nation, where the weather was either raining or trying to melt the skin off your face. Even in the winter, you were always sweating in your robes or getting brightly colored creepy-crawlies in your shoes. He was used to the rustling of leafy trees, bright flowers and fruits hanging down, the thousand smells of the market place, or the cicada-crickets singing at a blazing sunset.  
  
But here, there was absolutely nothing.  
  
The sky was a blanket of flat steel clouds that never seemed to part. The sea was vast, choppy, and dark, like a perpetual storm front; always waiting. The wind blew fast and harsh in the air, stabbing through armor and cloth like it had every right to rub it's frosty fingers down the back of your neck. The ship was the only spot of color for endless miles, unless you counted the occasional white cap of an iceberg (Sohaka had to have one of the older seamen tell him what ice was. He _still_ finds it hard to believe). It's a strange, eerie waste land where nothing lives except in the deep, frozen depths of the black water.  
  
Sohaka found it too creepy to be real and was just hoping the last month was crazy vision induced from one too many mysterious concoctions Kara called cooking.  
  
Another breath escaped him and he tried to focus on why he joined the military and this expedition instead of the frost bite creeping upon his nose. You see, Sohaka, at the live and kicking age of 16, was a tad too young to be a sailor. In fact, back home he would have just finished his studies and started apprenticeship. Unfortunately Sohaka is a genius when he wants to be and graduated early, so he had time to think. Thinking leads to questions, questions lead to ideas, and ideas lead to getting stranded on a frozen hunk of metal under the command of the infamous Captain Mutton Chops.  
  
The brass bell rang; it was the end of his shift. He stretched and winced as cold metal was poking places that cold metal should _never_ poke. Sohaka's armor was two sizes too big and when wet it hung from him in a way that reminded his sister of a drowned cat-owl. He couldn't wait to get it off.  
  
As he was heading down the tall swaying bridge to get to the lower decks, a vengeful wave of large black frothing water slammed into the starboard side of the hull.  
  
The grand rocking that followed startled him so much that Sohaka lost his balance, almost fell to the certain death of the slick covered deck, and then was saved at the last minute by his foot getting caught in a latter rung. (He doesn't care what Kara said she heard, Fire Nation sailors never squeal.) Swinging his arms to get balanced, Sohaka grabbed for the latter and almost let out a triumphant _'hah!'_ till he heard him speak.  
  
"My, my... Out for a little stroll in the sunshine?"  
  
A uncontrollable shiver went down his back and knocked out his surly adolescence. He thinks Commander Zhao is the only firebender to ever have a voice filled of ice. He dropped down to the main deck and bowed as far as his cramped back and stiff knees would let him. Sohaka never took his eyes off of his frost-bitten fingers as he heard him approach with evenly placed clicks of his bronze toed boots. "Are you perhaps a fairly decent bender, boy?"  
  
Sohaka chose not to point out that just because sparks didn't shoot out of his ass, it does not mean he can't throw a mean left hook. The muscles in his jaw were hard to move and he squeezed his eyes shut, but there was only a slight hesitation in his now strained voice. "No, _Sir_..."  
  
"Well then, _you_ best get running before I use you for my moving target practice."  
  
Moving faster than he thought possible with his frigid legs, Sohaka sprinted across the slick deck, his strange frozen breath trailing behind him. He bolted like a lemming for a cliff. The blood churning notes of the Zhao's laughter followed him to the echoing halls of the battleship's lower decks.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
While moving through the slightly warmer metal hull of the battle ship, freely expressing to the flaming fixtures where exactly the Commander could put his balls of fire, a warm hand shot out of the darkness and crushed his yelp of surprise against its warm palm.  
  
Now even Sohaka, a soldier who went weeks of cheating through military training, knew what to do during a hostage situation on "friendly" ground.  So without even thinking, he turned around, gave his best _I-am-an-innocent-who-still-has-big-dreams_ eyes, and thinking if he should do a jab to the rib or a hard punch in the throat when--  
  
"Why so jumpy?"  
  
Sohaka's body relaxed slightly at the familiar voice and was about to start preaching about not being annoying and sneaking up on him like that when he was yet again interrupted.  
  
"Come on," Kara said, "I need to show you something." She started down the hall, a slightly peeved Sohaka reluctantly following her.  
  
Kara had changed a lot in these last few weeks at sea. Her normally exasperated-mother-like voice turned sharper, her movements swift and more purposeful. She didn't laugh at him as much, and kept giving these pensive stares out over the slowly freezing horizon. She was so serious and professional all the sudden, it made him wonder who really was the older sibling. In the shadowy metal halls, Kara looked paler and more fragile than she let show most of the time.  
  
They reached their shared bunks. They we close to the boiler room so it was always a comfortable sweltering inside. He thanked beautiful coincidence once again for this blessing and tried not to fall asleep in his armor the minute he plopped on the beat-up hanging mattress.  
  
"So I was looking through the letters again-"  
  
"Uuuuuugggggggghhhhhhh..." Sohaka always tried to remain verbal when telling his sister that he really didn't want to hear what she had to say.  
  
"Oh, be quiet you. This is important." She picked up a small red-wooden chest, one of the few personal items they were aloud to bring from home, and set it on the small communal foldout. Sohaka started undressing while she rifled through slightly yellowed paper that had crumpled from how many times they have been reread. He knew the drill: she would tell him they overlooked some small insignificant detail here, he would tell her she's being too persnickety, she would somehow convince him it's important, he would get his hopes up, and then the clues lead to nowhere and they are back at tile one (only she was a little more determined and he was a little more tired).  
  
"Alright," he sighed. He laid down on his back and was slowly wiggling out of his pesky stiff shin guards. "Whadidya find?"  
  
"I think our father had a contact from the Water tribe."  
  
"Look, Kara...wait, wha-uhph!" After taking a rather surprising attack of a shin guard to the forehead, Sohaka turned a quizzical and pained expression towards her, a red spot slowly taking form between his raised eyebrows.  
  
"I know how this sounds but just stay with me here, okay?" She was pleading, almost, and he could never ignore her when she was pleading; it was so rare. "Look, I was going through some of the older letters when I found this."  
  
She withdrew a thicker scroll from the bottom of the pile and handed it to Sohaka. After giving his forehead a good rub (and no Kara, he wasn't pouting), he gently took the letter from her. Carefully un rolling it, he squinted at the small black characters. "Blessed _Agni_..."  
  
Kara's eyes were wide. She was starting to get exited. "You see it don't you?!"  
  
"Of _course_ I see it. How could you not? They spelled my name _completely wrong_!"  
  
Through the parchment, Sohaka could hear the echo of his sister's palm hitting her face.  
  
"No, Sohaka." She turned and took the paper from him, unrolling it all the way so the wooden ends were just touching the floor. Then she picked at a corner with her short, ink-darkened finger nails. Something peeled off. Now Kara held out a brand new paper, thin and ominous looking in the half-light of the small torch. She raised a dark eyebrow at him.  
  
"It's not like you found it at first glance either," he said with a small flush.  
  
She sighed, smoke escaping from the corner of her mouth and pilgrimaging to the creaky metal ceiling. "Never mind. Just listen."  
  
She began to read in halting phrases, obviously too exited to wait for the good part. "... We received your message not long ago and it is very challenging to believe... None of the others have been informed and for now, I would like to keep it that way... Also, we will be coming north after the late turn of the season. If at all possible, we could meet and discus the recent events..."  
  
She trailed of, eyes following the rest of the characters but with no sound coming from he mouth.  
  
"So... That's it?"  
  
Kara frowned, a wrinkle Sohaka was tempted to poke settling between her eyes.  
  
"Yeah," she slowly lowered the paper. "The rest is just small pictures that don't make any sense. But one stood out, and it looks very similar to the old water tribe insignia."  
  
She showed him the unorganized scrawl at the end. Sohaka knows that if he ever turned in paperwork this messy at the academy, a good hour of hand whapping would be in order.  
  
"So According to this scroll, _our_ father was working with _a spy_ in one of the tribes _to gather intelligence_?  _Our_ Dad? The _carpenter_?"  
  
"You and I both know he was more than _that_."  
  
Sohaka paused, looking Kara in the eye as he slowly remembered the last conversation he had with their Dad. It took awhile to pick at the now years old memories, but once they came back, he gave her a very surprised look (with the eyebrows and everything!) that was met with stone-like silence. "You _ease-dropped_ on us?"  
  
She gave him a look he would have to have more time to fully understand, then changed the topic. "Then this _spy_ ," she spat the word like a curse, "met with him and probably betrayed him. They said something about coming north, so they are from the southern tribe, which means that we are already headed in the right direction. The closer we get to the South Pole, the closer we are to finding this so-called _spy_."  
  
"The closer we are to finding Dad," Sohaka whispered. "But Kara, the reasons that you wanted to come here--"  
  
But just then a great boom hit the metal hull so hard, Sohaka felt the crash rattle in his teeth as he fell onto the hard floor, knocking whatever he was about to say right out of his mouth. His ears started to ring. "Oh perfect, is Zhao now _pounding_ his balls away on the top deck?"  
  
Kara gave him a wide-eyed look of pure horror but before Sohaka could explain himself, another boom came, shaking the many scrolls and armor off the beds. This one also had more heavy rocking and tilting, making it hard just to stand. Someone was yelling from the deck above. As they were hurriedly packing away the rest of the scrolls, an announcement came: _"All non-benders to the engine room! We need to go full power!",_ the speakers crackled with the soldier's alarm. _"Fire-benders, top deck! We've got ice!"_  
  
Sohaka and Kara shared a look. In that moment, he felt something heavy and terrifying tug inside of his chest. It wasn't until later that he realized that the feeling was actually _fear_.  
  
Sohaka knew what it was like to be afraid, he had been so many times. But this was not like the fear he had felt before when getting lost in the twisting gang-occupied streets, or having his foot get caught in a weighted net under water, or even taking a harsh beating from a superior officer for something stupid he let spill from his mouth.  
  
No, this was not fear for his life, but for _Kara's_. His _baby_ sister.  
  
Before he never really had to worry about her. She was responsible and levelheaded. She never once came home burned and angry from fights or walked into a spider-hornet nest. She was the epitome of calmness and strength (for a while he wondered if she was even a fire bender. That is, until she met Sifu Renzo and had a _very explosive_ disagreement which turned the school court yard into ash). Then again, that was _before_.  
  
He knew this moment would come the second he found her hiding behind him in the registration line, more than willing to lie about her age to enlist with her older brother. He knew that he couldn't follow her everywhere, couldn't watch over her when they had to be separated like this. It hurt, this fear. It burned low in his stomach and pulled cold dry air from the back of his throat. It meant that she would go places he couldn't follow.  
  
It didn't matter if it was chunks of strange frozen water or a hundred bloody earth benders that she would be battling. It would still give him this horrid feeling, reminding him how easily he could lose what was left of his family, what was left of his _mother_...  
  
Her eyes melted and sparked together; something glowed deep in there, making them look fiercely alive and deadly all at once. "Its okay, I will be fine. _I promise_."  
  
They were both still on there knees when Sohaka wrapped both arms tightly around her shoulders. The half-on armor made it awkward and pokey, but the feeling was there. And Sohaka breathed it in.  
  
All too soon they separated and he was watching her run down the hall and up the stairs for the open deck, her long dark hair being restyled into a low knot as she ran.  
  
As he slid down the stairs to the boiler room and waited for the unvented smoke to stop stinging his eyes and was looking for a good shovel, he did something he hadn't done since his mother was died: he prayed. He prayed a good long while, just in his head, to the spirits he didn't even believe in. He prayed to Agni, the serpent statue back in Selatan, the fallen lords in the clouds, his grandmother, his ancestor's ashes, to anybody that would listen. He prayed to keep Kara safe and that whatever she was fighting would just blow over and let them return home safely.  
  
Unfortunately for Sohaka, none of the spirits were listening.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Ha! I win!"  
  
"What do you mean _'you win'_?! I still have two moves left!"  
  
"But I cornered you with the swam-goose gambit! You can't _move_!"  
  
"Well, _that's just your opinion_!"  
  
"IT'S THE RULES!"  
  
Zuko let out a tired sigh. _Couldn't those to just get along for one day?_  
  
 _Well_ , he thought with a longing look to the doors, _it seems that the blizzard is finally clearing up._  
  
They had been stuck inside for almost three days and he wasn't the only one getting restless. It was dark in there, but Zuko could still see the sparse lamp light catch people's eyes and the shadowy figures wrapped in parkas. Most of the women and smaller children were huddled up in cornered groups, like mama wolves protecting their young (Zuko kept far away; he didn't want to spook one and have the whole pack descend upon him in motherly fury). Some older children were doing chores: patching up minuscule holes in the walls, hanging wet furs to dry, or trying to heat the water for cooking or bathing.  Several of the hunters had been counting and recounting their supplies, as if they might be stuck in here for weeks.  
  
Which has happened before.  
  
He had found a little corner in the back for himself and was trying his best to stay out of the way. If they need him they'll ask, as simple and effective as that. Zuko liked to be alone most days anyway. If only those two would just listen to him.  
  
"Hey I saw that! You cheated!"  
  
"Did not, liar!'  
  
"Did too! And if you do it again I'll tell mom!"  
  
"Oh, come _on_ ," Zuko interrupted, finally sick of the yelling. "You two are _grown men_! How can you fight worse than Qannik and Qopuk, and they're _eight_!"  
  
Nanuk shook his head, "We wouldn't have to fight if Arrluk would stop cheating!"  
  
Arrluk rolled his eyes, the sparse light flickering off the whites. "That's it, I am done trying to teach you Pai Sho. I'm lucky my hair hasn't greyed yet."  
  
"Fine then," Nanuk turned away from his barely-older brother to Zuko. "How long do you think I'll have to convince mom to get me a new twin before we leave?"  
  
"You don't have much time," Zuko could no longer here the howling as much, and the entrance had stopped shaking. They would be out by the next dark moon and then find a spot on the fresh new snow to rebuild their lives.  
  
Zuko, however, was thinking of other things besides where to best set up his tent. The _dreams_ were happening again. More frequently, at least. He had barely gotten a wink of sleep in almost three days because of them. And now, especially because he was in a confined space with a quarter of the tribe, he could take no chances. What if he started talking or screaming in his sleep again? Or worse, started water bending and end up _killing them all_?  
  
"You alright?" Nanuk asked. Zuko could imagine the small wrinkles between his dark eyebrows. "You look a little pale."  
  
Zuko snorted slightly, somewhat grateful to get out of his thoughts. He knew he was more pallid than washed whale bone and in this dim light, he almost glowed. Yet another thing that separated him. He never really cared about his looks that much (and with the scars, no one could really blame him), but sometimes he wondered what it would be like, to have skin the color of bronze, hair thick and wavy and chestnut, a rounded face with eyes that could shear through metal. He wondered what it would be like to look like these people, his family. For him to feel like he belonged inside and out.  
  
(He recalled a distant memory, of him as a young boy and the other children whispering _Tonrar_ , snow devils that comes with storms and steals precious objects or children. They are said to blend right in to the white covered ground. They had stayed well away from him after that and he had done the same, not liking the suspicious looks.)  
  
" _Ha ha_ ," he mocked.  
  
"No, I'm serious," he said looking anything but, Nanuk just had that type of face. Nanuk was plenty handsome himself, but only seemed to care about looking different from his brother. Twins were pretty common place in the tribe, so most people had the experience enough to find the details which set them apart. But Nanuk liked to take that up to a new level. They both had strong jaws and sculptured eyes, skin the color of sun-bleached bark with the odd dotting freckle and then the similarities end. Arrluk grew out his hair in beads, Nanuk had his in short spikes. Arrluk wore light furs and white leather, Nanuk would make sure to find the rare dark brown and had navy-dyed sashes. "Is there something you need to talk about?"  
  
"Leave the kid alone," Arrluk droned while folding up their board. He was the far more sensible of the two.  
  
"He's probably just thing about all of the frozen toilets he's gonna have to rebuild."  
  
Spoke too soon.  
  
Tuyet whistled from the front of the room. His steady voice of distant thunder boomed and echoed throughout the ice covered cave. "It's time to start loading up."  
  
So soon? The wind hadn't even completely died down yet. But Zuko followed the rest of them and started to pack. They had only taken the bare essentials: furs, food, cooking utensils, a few tents and the occasional Pia Sho board. But even so, everyone had to pitch in. Some of the mothers couldn't carry any supplies because their children were too small to wade through the deep new coating of snow and they had to be strapped across their backs or chests. Three of them were pregnant and could only take another parka or two. Zuko had to carry what they couldn't because he himself was a _'strapping young lad and when Tuyet was his age he could hoist a whole yak and his son'_. Zuko's not sure if he was joking or not.  
  
Furs were loaded onto shoulders and backs. Zuko made sure to draw his own hood up as well, since one never made the same mistake of going bare-headed into the arctic wind twice.  
  
They formed a procession (trackers in the front, fallowed by Tuyet, half of the men, the women and children, the rest of the hunters, and then Zuko. He was there to cover their foot prints, and he didn't feel like asking why. He would probably regret it.) and they opened the cave into the new world.  
  
Zuko has heard stories of other places where the snow only comes once and then melts, and it leaves the land fresh and clean again but still relatively the same. Unfortunately, that is not how it works in the South Pole. Oh, not everything changes. The wind beaten blue mountains are still in the distance, the deathly and bright water almost opposite, but most things that end up between shift and bend. The snow and wind sculpts the land a new face, making different valleys of white, grey and blue.  
  
He supposes this should fascinate and wonder him, like it does the others. It should excite him for the chance to modify the maps and hunting grounds. This should bring him to awe, this great power the earth holds to move and twist itself. The world's ability to adapt and create new beautiful things. But it doesn't.  
  
If anything, it's an inconvenience and just one more thing that isolates him from the people he should belong to. His people, who are still so different.  
  
This year, the snow was plenty and it raised drifts that loomed and curved like great waves before the crash. The light blinded him, all the white reflecting behind his eyelids. It stung for the first minutes while they exited and he had to resist rubbing. Then they started to walk.  
  
He was lucky he wasn't in the front, or else he'd be waist deep in the stuff. All he had to do was turn around every twenty steps or so, concentrate, and roll the snow into a mini avalanche to smooth over their path. After about an hour, this is a lot harder than it sounds.  
  
By the time they reached the bay he was sweating and the droplets tried to freeze onto his face. He was probably the only water bender to ever despise the winter.  
  
Then again, he could possibly be the only water bender _left._ Nanuk's right, he can even depress _himself_ sometimes.  
  
"Look's like we're the first ones here," Arrluk rasped from his left. He was one of the oh-so-fortuitous who got to lug a ten-people sized tent across the tundra. Zuko had felt bad for him and helped set it down in a nearby drift. He twisted and stretched while his back made popping sounds that Zuko's always failed to relent. "You ready to start the wall?"  
  
He nodded and tried to take a calming breath. Then he started to bend.  
  
And he _loved_ it.  
  
It was the one thing that really connected him to here. When he was bending, if felt like he could breath with the ice, fall beside the snow from the sky, and feel the heart beat of the sea as if it were his own. It pumped adrenalin and something cool and purely _wild_ through his veins. It made it worth it, this feeling. It made everything worth it.   
  
The frozen water reacted to him immediately, as if it were restless and wanted to get up and run. He could relate.  
  
Zuko is entirely untrained. Not untalented, just unharnessed, with leagues of untapped potential. He had tried to train himself, and even came up with a few new tricks up his sleeve, but it mostly ended up in frustration and failure. _He was always failing..._  
  
But surprisingly, there was one thing Zuko had excelled at. One of the elders had a mother from the northern tribe and had somehow managed to receive an architect's design for part the ice palace they were adding onto. She had almost gotten rid of it too because the markings and symbols made less sense than a vegetarian lion-seal. But to Zuko, they were _familiar_ and entirely understood. He knew what order they are in, how big or small they are, and how to move them around to create something unique.  
  
Before he knew it, Zuko had stayed awake for days writing all he knew down. When he ran out of paper, he used skins. When he ran out of usable brushes, he used his fingers. When he ran out of ink, he used rocks and blood. But he could _never_ run out of things to write.  
  
Most of the tribe assumed he was having some sort of fit. It took Kesuk almost dying from sickness to pull him away. It's been many years since then, but he has never had that feeling again.  
  
Now he has the scroll memorized perfectly and adds a few of his own  ideas into the mix. The tribe is almost completely mobile. Wherever there is water, there is a home for them.  
  
And no matter how different, how peculiar he is compared to them, these people are _his_ people. They are his home. They are his family. He would do anything to protect this place. _Anything._  
  
  


 

 

 

Kara had never met the Princess before.

She had heard stories—rumors, more like, about her though. Even with a Tiger-Shark Class Cruiser that could carry and feed the entire population of Kara’s home island for months (along with the surrounding wildlife), gossips about the higher-up’s and officer’s spread through the ranks like—well, wild fire. It would be physically impossible not to hear any of the whispers that sweep from ear to ear in the dining hall or showers about the issues and bad habits that seem so much more interesting when they happen to _them_ , the people who are of higher standing and are supposed to have tact. Kara found it extremely tiresome in the beginning but now it just gives her something to laugh at quietly when the day is done.

Anything about the Princess is rare and extremely secretive, mostly because the longest lasting rumor is that she has watchful eyes everywhere and knows when you sneak an extra shrimp on your tray or you’re using spit to shine the edges of your boot (Kara thought it was good to have a little dose of paranoia, especially when docking near recently occupied ports in the Earth kingdom). But occasionally Kara will hear about a mind sharper than ripping thorns, a perfectly poised manner that could turn dangerous in heartbeats, a pretty face that will sheer through to your soul, a bending prodigy. _Blue fire_. To think, Kara was within walking distance of someone who could bend _lightning_ , at _fifteen_! Kara was in awe (sometimes even she forgot that the Royals were even _mortal,_ let alone _people_ ).

But standing there on the top deck, Kara knew that none of those rumors were true. They completely paled in comparison.

She had been in some pretty ugly-looking storms before, but they were nothing like this. For the first time in years, Kara felt the sea sickness swerve in her stomach at the constant shaking and jolting. The sip was being pitched and batted around like a small turtle-trout in the Ookii rapids, constantly off course and taking damage that was on the edge of unrepairable.

She made it up the stairs, the cold already stealing her breath away in silvery puffs.

At first glance, Kara could have sworn that they were being ambushed by mountains. But then, a few astonished blinks later, she saw that the island-sized towers were moving _with_ the water. Chunks and sheets of blue-gray fell off almost determinedly (and making a great deal of uproar about it), only creating more bone soaking waves that splashed up and froze to the metalwork. They acted as one to try and sink the ship through blunt force and mere intimidation. It was sort of working.

The crew was scampering wildly across the dangerously tilting deck, the officers barely keeping order as sailors battled the flying ice, tried to tie things down, or simply held on for their lives. Sweet spirits, it was hell in a hand basket. _We’ve got ice_ , she thought.

She didn’t think much after that because then she was bending like her life depended on it (which it sort of did). In fact, her bending was so energetic and focused that she didn’t even notice her, which later astounded Kara to no end. But it was two minutes in already and she was whirling about, sending heat filled strokes to clear the bitter, frosted air and to melt the dirty ice crawling up between her feet. The very air stung with a suffocating chill that ripped the skin and sliced the lungs, a wind that howled and sang destruction into the ear as you stumbled and fell into a frozen death. Kara was having none of it. She pushed hot cinnamon-spice breath through her veins as sparks climbed out of her throat.

She was not going down without a fight.

She was then shielding a non-bender who was unprepared for the freeze and slipped with a sickening crack to the leg that was audible even amid the chaos of the gale. Walls of scarlet and light streamed from her palms like volcanic jets as she pushed and swerved and kicked. The sweat froze to her back and steamed off her chest as she fought, for it was an exhilarating battle. That wonderful heat was whisking into her bones and biting out of her mouth, wanting to get free and just _burn_. And Kara let it, because right there she felt _so alive_.

It was as she was leading him inside to the infirmary, his thick armored elbow hooked around her neck and her palm blazing with heat that she finally spotted her.

She was standing at the bow with her back to Kara, and although she was some distance away, Kara could feel her presence like she was pulling the whole world in, just to watch. Her vision seemed to sharpen and focus. Even through the sleet and wind and blowing flames you could see that her black armor was edged in fine gold and her padding a mix of silk and leather.  The wind was brutal, but her hair still held in a sufficient dark knot at the top of her head. She looked relaxed despite the anarchy of an arctic blizzard, despite the hills of freezing water and enormous stockades of ice, with her boots slightly apart and white hands loosely together behind her back, as if she was listening to a boring but necessary lecture.  Kara’s entire body just stopped and starred openly.

A heavy bell rang, literally beating away her thoughts. Kara had a flash of stillness, where it felt like she was missing something important, and then she was moving again. The bell kept ringing as she made her way across the deck with the injured man that was now starting to whimper slightly. They were almost to the stair when the ship made another horrific tilt, sending them both sliding into a frosty rail, knocking the man out cold. Kara gasped, a sharp pain coming from her side as he slammed into her rib cage.

The entire ship seemed to be sliding with them, thousands of pounds of metal and sailors thrown to the edge and just short of slipping. Everything was tipped and on its side. Screaming and screeching filled the air and the ocean almost seemed to laugh at them, the way it was pounding away at the hull with undeniable glee. Everything was so loud and terrifying. For a moment Kara let herself be a petrified and helpless little girl, the one that daddy had left crying at the beach with a warm kiss on the forehead. _So this is what it feels like_.

Then Kara remembered herself and where she was, what she was doing there. Then she remembered _her_. With the strength she didn’t know was there, Kara pushed the man off her, being mindful of his leg, as the ship moved back to just rocking wildly. “Princess!” she called out, for surely that had to have been her. “Are you alright--”

Kara stopped herself, looking on with shock, as she took in the girl. It didn’t even look like she had _moved_. The Princess was entirely too still to be any sort of natural on the still-swaying ship and with Kara now closer, she could see no wet hairs stuck to her the back of her pale neck nor droplets running along the edge of her armor. Kara’s breath was caught in her throat.

Then the Princess moved, entirely and unnaturally graceful into a stance that Kara was unfamiliar with, but could somehow feel that what she was about to do was both devastatingly powerful and terrifying.  So Kara looked on for just a second, passed the still mind-numbing presence of the Princess, and regretted it severely.

There, closing fast from the horizon was the largest glacier Kara had ever seen. It looked like a separate nation all on its own; tall and impenetrable like the great walls of Ba Sing Se. It seemed to stretch for miles, never-ending and unbreakable. A deep fog curled up and around it, seemingly to help fortify its magnificence.  Kara felt that it looked the same way spirits did; impossibly beautiful and undeniably dangerous.

She heard a calming breath and knew that it couldn’t be coming from herself. Her eyes flicked back to the Princess.

Her movements started out slow but extremely precise, with two fingers held tightly together at each hand. The Princess concentrated her arms to low sweeps across the deck.

Kara felt something else then. Feelings that stirred in her chest and spread out through the rest of her body, making it tingly and numb. A heavy stench was emitting somewhere; the air was suddenly thin and unbreathable. Hair rose on the back of Kara’s neck because she couldn’t look away. It was like watching a volcano erupt. Or the final blow in an Agni Kai.

Her final strike was viper fast, almost too fast for Kara’s eyes to follow. Then there was an explosion of heat and light that was permanently burned into the back of her retinas.  A thin, crackling stream of white shot out of the Princess’s hand faster than any arrow. It slammed into the ice with a gut lurching _boom_. When the ship got closer, there was a clean, mile long trench sheared through the ice. They passed in silence.

From then on, whenever Kara closed her eyes, the image of lightening seared her vision, never letting her forget what she witnessed.  But Kara didn’t see the slight shake of excitement in the Princess’s fingers after, nor the crazed gleam that crossed her golden eyes.

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have probably noticed by now, but I have no beta. I was just rereading this and saw all the little mistakes in it. (I skim too much when editing).
> 
> So if anyone reading this is interested, I am in need. You should give to those in need, right? PLEASE!


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